WAY UP HIGH: CCRI's Steven Vazquez competes in the high jump during Sunday's meet at Harvard.

The CCRI Knights track team traveled to Harvard University on Sunday to compete in the United States of America Track and Field New England (USATFNE) Championships. There was no team scoring but individual performance standards were improved upon.

Leading the way for the Knights was Steven Vazquez (Central Falls) who won the high jump event with a 2.03 meter leap. Also performing well was Daniel Duquette (North Attleboro, Mass.), as he set a new CCRI 800m record with a NJCAA National qualifying time of 1:58. Other top Knights' performers included Colin Cabral (Cumberland) who placed ninth in the shot put with an 11.77m toss. Kevin Redmond (South Kingstown) followed Cabral, placing 10th in the shot put with an 11.14m toss. Sprinter Ryan Rotondo (Cranston) placed 10th in the 60m dash with a time of 7.42 seconds and came back to run his best 200m dash of the season, placing 14th with a time of 24.04 seconds. Middle-distance specialist Bobby Allen (Cranston) placed 10th in the mile in a time of 4:20.40. Jumper and sprinter Jordan Barbosa (Warwick) placed 10th in the high jump with a 1.78m leap, and then placed 30th in the 400m dash in a time of 54.62 seconds. Rounding out the Knights performers was Joseph Gareri (Uxbridge, Mass.), who placed 39th in the 400m dash with a time of 1:05.

On the women's side Olivia Emerick (Cranston) placed 19th in the 200m dash in a time of 29.20 seconds and 22nd in the 400m dash in a time of 1:06.19 seconds. Also for the Lady Knights, Cassandra Gustafson (Pawtucket) placed 14th in the shot put with an 8.81m toss.

The CCRI indoor track team looks forward to the NJCAA National Championships March 1-3 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Knights battle hard but fall to ASA

The CCRI Knights men's basketball team traveled to Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. to play the Division I powerhouse Avengers of ASA College on Saturday at St. Francis College. The Knights battled the tough squad to the very end, but ultimately fell by the final score of 63-57. With the loss, the Knights fell to 17-12 while ASA improved to 21-4.

The Knights gave the Avengers all they could handle, holding the high scoring Avengers, who average over 83 points per game, to just total 63 points and just 30 points in the second half. CCRI took a 34-33 lead into halftime after being down by as many as seven points in the first half.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team gaining more than a six-point advantage. ASA was leading by a single point, 58-57, with 38.1 seconds left in the game and less than 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock as Daquan Brickhouse hit a long three-pointer from the corner to put the Avengers up 61-57. ASA closed the game by forcing a steal on the Knights' next possession, which forced CCRI to foul. Brickhouse sank both free throws to secure the victory.

CCRI was led by captain Desmond Williams (Torrington, Conn.), who scored more than half of the Knights' points. He tallied 31 points, with five three-pointer and added 11 rebounds. Williams now has 1,274 career points and needs just 66 to catch Rick Santos, who is listed as No. 3 on the CCRI all-time scoring list. Captain Isaac Medeiros (Johnston) also charted a double-double, scoring 12 points while pulling down 10 rebounds. Captain Bryan Yarce added six points and two steals while dishing out six assists.

"We gave a tremendous defensive effort against a strong DI opponent in addition to playing great as a team today," CCRI head coach Rick Harris said. "This is just what we needed to do as we prepare for our final home game against Region XXI opponent Massasoit CC."

The next game for the Knights will be this Thursday when they will host Region XXI foe Massasoit Community College at 7 p.m. for the right to earn the No. 2 seed in the upcoming Region XXI Championship game versus No. 1 seed Dean College.

No. 15 Lady Knights beat Bulldogs

The No. 15 CCRI Lady Knights traveled to Franklin, Mass. to play the Bulldogs of Dean College on Thursday evening for a pivotal Region XXI league game. The Lady Knights defeated the Bulldogs 67-59. With the victory, CCRI improved to 21-3 on the season and 6-0 in Region XXI.

The Lady Knights were able to silence the rowdy Dean College crowd as they were able to maintain a lead for most of the first half, holding onto a nine point lead 33-24 at the break. The Lady Knights were led in the first half by Treedy Ward (Boynton, Beach, Fla.) who scored 11 points including three from beyond the arc, and captain Jahira Smith (Brooklyn, N.Y.) who added nine.

In the second half,the Bulldogs bit back and were able cut the CCRI lead to just two points, thanks in large part to forward Chelsea Newman who had a monster game with 20 points and 23 rebounds. However, the Lady Knights were able to weather the storm as a cohesive unit and dig deep to escape with the win.

The Lady Knights were led by Smith, who scored a game-high 21 points with six steals, four rebounds and three assists. Smith now has 939 career points and needs just 18 points to become the Lady Knights' all-time leading scorer (Amanda Ward 956) and 61 to be the first to reach the 1,000-point mark. Also helping CCRI was Nyjah Porcher (New Britain, Conn.), who charted her 12th double-double of the year, scoring 10 points with 14 rebounds. Ahnyyah Jackson (Hackensack, N.J.) added 10 points and seven rebounds.

"This was an important game, and the kids knew it," CCRI head coach Kate Lynch said. "We practiced hard all week and prepared for Dean. We executed our game plan, but Dean is tough, especially at their place. I'm proud of the kids for gutting it out and getting the win."

Knights fall to Dean Bulldogs

The CCRI Knights men's basketball team traveled to Franklin, Mass. to play the Bulldogs of Dean College for a Region XXI league game. The Knights lost to the Bulldogs 82-70. The Knights are now 1-2 in their league, tied with Massasoit Community College making the game on Thursday February 21st a pivotal game to see who will be the No. 2 seed in the Division II Men's basketball tournament, which Dean has earned the right to host with a 3-1 league record.

The Knights jumped out to an early 12-3 lead five minutes into the first half of play, then withstood a furious Dean College comeback to hold a 36-34 halftime lead. The Knights' offense was clicking to start the second half, as they garnered a nine-point lead, 61-52 with 10:13 to play in the game. However, at that point the Bulldogs kicked into high gear and stymied the Knights offense, putting together a 30-9 run to close out the game. The Bulldogs capitalized on the emotion of the frenzied crowd of their home court, which catapulted them to the 12-point win

The Knights were led Williams who scored a game-high 25 points, including four three-pointers, to go with seven rebounds. Yarce had 12 points with six assists and two steals. Also helping the Knights was Medeiros, who had nine points and eight rebounds, and Pat Marchand (Cranston), who had 10 points and eight rebounds. Jerome Harris (Hartford, Conn.) added nine points.

"We have to give credit to Dean tonight for kicking up their game another level to finish the game," CCRI head coach Rick Harris said. "We had no answer for their desire and determination as well as energy over the last ten minutes. We played a strong 30 minutes but the game is 40 minutes long and we were unable to close the deal."